FEATURE:
Everybody’s Crazy for You
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith
Looking Ahead to the Fortieth Anniversary of Madonna’s Debut Single: Time for a New Covers Album?
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NOT that every legendary artist or band...
gets their own tribute or covers album, but there are a load of other artists who want to pay tribute to another. Whether it is The Beatles or Prince, cover versions can give well-known songs by legends new light. I am not sure how many cover albums there have been relating to Madonna, but I do feel that this October marks a big moment. In October 1982, her debut single, Everybody, was released. To mark forty years of that important and historic moment, there should be a tribute album. As part of BBC Radio 6 Music’s festival in Cardiff, Manic Street Preachers performed a cover of Madonna’s track, Borderline. From her eponymous debut album of 1983, it was a great cover! It got me thinking about a whole range of artists who have either tackled a Madonna cut in the studio or performed it live. The positive reaction to Manic Street Preachers’ Madonna turn made me wonder whether they will take that song into the studio. I speculated how a cheeky cover of Material Girl (from 1984’s Like a Virgin) would be a great idea. There are a few Madonna anniversaries this year (the thirtieth anniversary of Erotica for instance), and I feel that, as her debut single is forty in October, maybe a forty-track tribute album would do full justice.
I know her 1990 greatest hits compilation was called The Immaculate Collection. Maybe a tribute album should be something similar to that in terms of title. As her debut single is called Everybody, something that nods to that. At forty tracks, it would allow a whole range of artists a chance to provide their take on her material. It is impossible to say just how many of Madonna’s tracks have been covered through the years. There has not been a Madonna-endorsed tribute album - or at least not one for a while. As her biopic is due at some point this year – which she is also directing -, it is a perfect time to think about it. Maybe it could be a charity fundraising album. Available on double cassette, two CDs and a vinyl set, perhaps it would be reserved for bigger fans who have the money to invest. That said, it could be available via streaming, so fans would not be priced out. It would also be a way for younger listeners the chance to connect with Madonna. Maybe hearing some of her lesser-known tracks for the first time. Think of artists who have been inspired by Madonna. From Beyoncé and Britney Spears through to Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani. From huge artists to new acts, combining them all for one album would be a real tribute to the Queen of Pop.
I am not sure which of her songs could make up the forty. I don’t think that it should be just her studio album songs. She has contributed to film soundtracks; there are B-sides and rarer songs that are worth exploring. If I had to choose forty for artists to cover, they would be Borderline, Holiday and Everybody from her debut album; Material Girl and Angel from Like a Virgin; Papa Don’t Preach, Live to Tell and La Isla Bonita from True Blue; Erotica and Bad Girl from Erotica; Secret, Human Nature and Bedtime Story from Bedtime Stories; Swim, Ray of Light and Frozen from Ray of Light. There is Vogue from I’m Breathless; Who’s That Girl from the soundtrack of the same name. It would take sufficient time to assort the songs and artists and get it all recorded…so it may be tight to get it done by October. That said, one feels something of this nature must be planned ahead of the anniversary. As Everybody was her first single, there will be other features, projects and celebrations of the moment when a future Pop queen launched a great debut. Maybe not her best track, it is very underrated. It is extremely important. As the Manic Street Preachers showed on Thursday in Cardiff when they provided their take on Borderline, there are intriguing possibilities! Disparate and varied artists going into studios to cover Madonna songs from 1982 to present (or her latest album, 2019’s Madame X). There is a lot of love out there from Madonna from so many corners of the music landscape. A 2022 tribute album would show that so many artists are…
CRAZY for her.